Book Review on Exemplary Leadership
Litchka, P. R. (2016). Exemplary leadership practices: Learning from the past to enhance future school leadership. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Exemplary Leadership Practices: Learning from the Past to Enhance Future School Leadership provides insightful thoughts for current leadership practitioners as well as those who aspire to be leaders. The author Peter Litchka correlates historical leaders’ stories to contemporary educational leaders’ successful and failing experiences, analyzes the leadership styles and approaches, and provides with sage advice for practices.
Coming in at 123 pages, this book consists of five chapters and ends with a conclusion part. Each chapter starts with a leadership statement/quote and follows a similar structure: an introduction, a sketch of theories, a story of a great leader in history, an example of a contemporary principal or superintendent, and a conclusion called Learning for Leading.
How can school leaders address the problems in contemporary educational environments? The first step is to find their inner core, which is pointed out in the first chapter Temet Nosce (Know Thyself). Woodrow Wilson’s story and an unsuccessful contemporary superintendent’s example are contrasted to show that the quest of inner core for school leaders is twofold. Chapter Two The Magic Behind the Meaning explores symbolism in leadership, and further illustrates it in Mustafa Kemal’s and Mohandas Gandhi’s stories, along with the contemporary principal Armie’s “high five” story. Leading the changes needs great courage and self-sacrifice (p. 47), just like the process that chrysalis exuviate to butterflies (p. 41). The audacious stories of Mohandas Gandhi and a female principal Ellen Gregory in Chapter Three From Chrysalis to Butterfly give readers inspiration on how to stand up for social justice when confronting the dilemmas and challenges from societal and organizational changes and reforms. It is also necessary for “all school leaders to consider becoming a reflective leader” (p. 76). Chapter Four Thinking About Thinking shows how Charles Dickens’ and principal Paula’s reflective thinking and practices guide them to success, while Chapter Five Surviving and Thriving explores how resiliency enables female leaders to rise up and become stronger in adversity. The conclusion chapter Looking Back - and Ahead, offers Litchka’s final thoughts and advice for practice, and ends with an ancient Chinese leadership parable.
One of the key themes in this book is that leaders have to “look inside out”. In other words, leaders need self-analysis, self-awareness and self-reflection throughout the leadership practices. Contemporarily, school leaders are faced with more accountability, more mandates, and less support than ever (p. 76). Bolman and Deal (1995) suggest that a most critical role of any leader in any type of environment is to instill spirit, zest, and life within the organization. The first step to accomplish this is to find their inner voice – to self-analyze personal and professional belief and values, share their voices, and build a climate of shared voices which can help “develop a culture of trust, loyalty, and sense of direction” (p. 5) in the organization. When leaders are confronting the societal and organizational changes, a thorough self-analysis can provide them with the opportunity to acutely assess one’s commitment and role for the changes (p. 58). Furthermore, leaders should slow down their paces and spend more time reflecting on their own belief and practice, as well as learning from the past and the present (p. 113). Such reflective thinking and practice can help school leaders develop a better sense of self-awareness (p. 78) and build resilience (p. 103).
Though there are only female leaders’ stories among the total eleven ones, Litchka underscores the tough circumstances they confront, and stresses their audacious achievements. Female leaders demonstrate strong resilience - being knocked down, getting back up, and being stronger (p. 99), and finally lead their organizations to survive and thrive. In the current educational environment, female leaders continue to face the barriers that mainly come from unethical and sexist stereotypes. The challenges demonstrate in several ways, such as the glass ceiling, pigeonhole, different expectations, fixed roles, and physical appearance (p. 87). Thus, Litchka suggests that whether in favorableness or adversity, leaders, especially female leaders, need to develop a balance between the inner world and the external environment in a sustainable manner. He offers a framework to cultivate resiliency – to build physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual well-being and have a deep care for the people you lead (p. 108).
The third impressive theme woven throughout the book is the power of storytelling. As exemplary leadership from the past can cross cultures and contexts (p. xii), Litchka encourages readers to learn from the historical and present stories. Those stories can help people define what it means to be a leader in the contemporary context of school leadership (p. xiii). He uses stories of Woodrow Wilson, Mustafa Kemal, Mohandas Gandhi, Charles Dickens, Golda Meir, and two male and three female superintendents/principals in contemporary time; he also utilizes two Chinese leadership stories/parables, as well as his personal interactions in educational practices. Litchka says that “stories are a great starting point” (p. 113) to get self-awareness and that they give leaders guidance on how to deal with the myriad of issues. Whether the stories are historical or contemporary, whether they take place in politics, literature, or education, whether they are successful practices or failing experiences, all practicing and aspiring leaders can contextualize leadership in general, and to today’s educational environment as well.
This book is not without its flaws. Though Litchka touches the relational and complex nature of leadership via the historical and present examples, the focus of this book is still the leaders’ inside world. The suggestions provided for self-cultivation and self-awareness are very idealistic. For instance, when leaders encounter the “storm” in today’s turbulent times (p. 102), he suggests looking for a higher purpose that is beyond personal and professional goals and striving for a state of harmony from within and for those being led (p. 107). In Chapter Four Thinking about Thinking, he argues that it is imperative for school leaders to “consider becoming a reflective leader - more of a thinker, and less of a doer” (p. 76). However, in the contemporary neo-liberalistic school system where efficiency and efficacy are highly valued, such leaders will be deemed as unserviceable. Instead of considering more while doing less, contemporary school leaders need to seek a balance between thinking and doing. Moreover, in the same chapter, Litchka uses Charles Dickens as an example to prove how reflective thinking results in professional success. Admittedly, Charles Dickens was a splendid English writer. However, this historical figure in literature is not convincing enough to prove Litchka’s point. It is questionable whether Charles Dickens could be regarded as a leader, either formally or informally. Besides, it is difficult to tell what the significant role reflective thinking played in accomplishing his book A Christmas Carol.
Despite the imperfections mentioned above, Litchka successfully relates the tenets of leadership to great leaders, and explains the essence of effective leadership in a straightforward way. The interesting historical and contemporary experiences of the selected leaders, the synthesized interpretations of leadership theories, the extensively cited sage statements, along with the lively storytelling techniques, make this book very engaging and enjoyable to read. Additionally, in the “Learning for Leading” section of each chapter, he offers advice for practice for leaders. Historical successes and failures can help contemporary leaders reflect upon their own context and practice, optimize their strength and maximize the success.
Exemplary Leadership Practices: Learning from the Past to Enhance Future School Leadership is a book worth reading for all the practicing and aspiring educational leaders. This book gives school leaders an opportunity to retrospect on the past and get inspiration for present leadership practices. Just as Litchka says, “the present nature and complexity of leadership is heavily dependent on the past” (p. xii). For the purpose of fully understanding the current and enhancing the future, we have to travel back and explore the past.
References
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (1995). Leading with soul: An uncommon journey of spirit Elsevier Inc.10.1016/0007-6813(95)90092-6
© Wenyi Gong 2018
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